Every year for more than 20 years, Whitey Robertson helped cook 1,200 pounds of ground beef, beef that was used to make chili for Chili for Children, the Wesley Foundation’s annual fundraiser for a community outreach program.

“We would put [the chili] in big cookers that hold four or five gallons,” Robertson said. “And I would season just about every one of them.”

Robertson hasn’t participated in the event in three years, having moved to Missouri, but he can still look back on two decades of helping the local community. The fundraiser, which raised $14,000 from this year’s program held in January, has helped support a community outreach program called Age to Age, a mentoring-based program that works with both at-risk children in the community as well as elderly adults in nursing homes — hence the name.

“Board members make the chili and sell the tickets,” said Lisa Roys, associate director of campus ministries. “People come in-house and eat it, and we also deliver it.”

Through the program, students from Arkansas Tech take an at-risk child under their wing. This year, 80 children from the community have been a part of the program, each one given a mentor. Combined, 160 people participate in the program.

“The need is greater than that, but we’re limited by our funding,” Roys said. “That’s all the children we can handle with our funds.”

Roys is hoping to receive some grants that would increase their funding, as well as see a steady increase in the annual fundraiser, to expand the Age to Age program.

“That’s our goal, to get funding to have more children in future years,” she said. “We’re looking at some grants that if they come through for us, then we’ll be able to add some more children.”

“We’re looking to get around 100 children,” she continued. “The need is greater than that, but that’s probably all our facility can handle.”

For Robertson, the chance to help raise money for such a program is a fulfilling opportunity.

“To think that I can do something to help out those underprivileged children, it’s very rewarding,” he said. “I love doing it, and I love being a part of it. One of the reasons I hated moving to Springfield is that I was moving away from it.”

While Robertson has been with the program since its inception in 1987, he is reluctant to take too much credit for the fundraiser’s success.

“John Whiteside and Jimmy Davenport are just as involved in Chili for Children as I am,” he said. “Ron Knost is a driving force behind selling most of this chili.”